A/N: Hey, thanks for all the wonderful reviews on the last chapter! Here's the next one; I hope you like it!

After the Hallows

Chapter 2

Ginny woke up the next morning, nestled in Hermione's arms, still in the Room of Requirement. Sunlight was streaming in through the single large window, and the fire was almost out.

Hermione stirred next to her, and Ginny watched her as she sat up and stretched, rubbing her eyes to get the sleep out of them.

"Morning, Ginny. Merlin, did you sleep on my arm all night?" She asked, wincing.

"Yeah, I think so," Ginny replied, sighing.

"How are you this morning?" Hermione asked worriedly.

"Not the best I've ever been. I knew I would be mad at him, I just didn't expect to hit him. I feel so terrible, and I think," she added, voicing her fear, "I think that I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't forgive me. I would deserve that."

"No, you wouldn't. You did what I would have done, and did do, to Ron. Except I didn't hit Ron that hard," Hermione said, with a faint smile.

"What? You hit Ron? When?"

"You know when he abandoned Harry and I because the locket was really getting to him, to his head?"

"No, I didn't know he did that!"

"Well, he did, and then he came back a few days later, and he just walked up and said 'Hey', with a smile and he looked like he was expecting to get a hug. I just grabbed his bag and started hitting him with it. I didn't talk to him for days after, until we went to the Lovegoods, when he agreed to go just to get back on my good side," Hermione finished with a slight smile. "But I think that you and Harry will make up a lot quicker than we did. You two just don't hold grudges, unless it's against Snape or Malfoy." Hermione sighed, looking sad.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked.

"Snape. He wasn't all bad. And now he's dead, and we can't talk. I actually miss him, if you can believe it, Ginny."

"Yeah, I miss him too. I feel bad for the years of misery he had to deal with. He was too young to die. Just like Lily, James, Remus, Tonks, Sirius, and F-fred." Ginny paused, breathing deeply, before continuing. "All these deaths are V-voldemort's fault. Everyone who died was too young to die. I wish I could see all of them again. Its just so sad." She sniffed, her eyes filling with tears again.

"Oh, Ginny, you need to stop. It's not all bad. Voldemort's dead, for good, and all those who died fighting him died how they would have wanted to die, bravely fighting against the dark side for a safer world. They wouldn't have wanted you sad. Fred would want his funeral to be a fun thing, with jokes and no tears. He wouldn't have wanted everyone to be sad. He loved laughing, joking, pranking, and most of all, he loved happiness. He didn't like sadness. It just wasn't his thing."

"You're right, of course, Hermione. Should we go downstairs and get breakfast?"

"Yeah, but first, you should wash your face in cold water. Wake yourself up, calm you down. You need to keep your cool with Harry. He loves you more than anything else in the world. You're the only thing he has that he really loves. And I promise you, he'll forgive you."

Ginny smiled. "Thanks, Hermione, you're the best."

They stood up, hugged, and then walked out of the Room, towards the nearest bathroom.

A little while later, Ginny and Hermione walked into the Great Hall. They started heading towards the Gryffindor table, where the Weasley's were all sitting. Then Ginny saw that Harry was sitting there, too. He was looking at her, and when she saw him, he gave her a small wave. Ginny turned on her heel, dragging Hermione with her, and sat at the Ravenclaw table with Luna.

"Hello," said Luna dreamily.

"Hi," Ginny replied.

"You hit Harry Potter yesterday," Luna said it like it was a normal thing to do, and Ginny flinched.

"Yes, I did," she said tersely.

"Is this a sore subject?" Luna asked, still just as dreamy.

"Yeah, it is," Hermione answered quickly. "How are you, Luna? Did you get injured at all yesterday?" Ginny shot her a thankful look. She smiled slightly in return.

"Oh, no, I'm fine," Luna replied. "I only got a few scratches, and Madam Pomfrey healed them up for me. Rolf Scamander got her to do it for me. I think he likes me," she added, smiling dreamily.

"Oh, that's nice of him," Hermione said, glancing at Ginny and stifling a giggle. "Oh, my," she said, staring over Ginny's shoulder.

"What?"

Hermione pointed just behind her. She turned around quickly and found herself face to face with Harry. She stepped back, tripped over a bench, and fell onto Hermione. Hermione caught Ginny and set her back on her feet.

"Hi," Ginny said, somewhat breathlessly.

"Hey," Harry replied. "Can we talk?"

"Uh, okay," she said nervously.

Harry turned and walked towards the door of the hall. Ginny shot Hermione a nervous look, which Hermione returned, and she followed him out.

"I'm really sorry about yesterday," she said, looking at the floor.

"You don't need to be sorry. I deserved it."

She nodded, still looking at the floor.

"Ginny, look at me, please," he said pleadingly.

She shook her head. Suddenly, his hand was under her chin, forcing her to look at him. Her lower lip was trembling.

'Damn it,' she thought. 'Last thing I need; to go to pieces in front of him.'

She bit her lip, trying to steady it, but that only made it worse. Her brown eyes were filling with tears, still staring at Harry's green ones, wishing she could run up to the Room of Requirement and cry her heart out. This was unusual, seeing as she hardly ever cried, and when she did, it meant something was very wrong in her world, and she was extremely uncomfortable.

"Ginny? Are you alright?" Harry asked, worried.

She shook her head, not trusting herself to speak. He moved towards her, as though to hug her. Without thinking, she turned and ran up the marble staircase, down the corridor, and up more stairs to the seventh floor. She ran to the corridor of Barnabas the Barmy, and walked back and forth three times in front of the blank wall. A door appeared, and she wrenched it open, running in. This time, the Room had morphed into a bedroom, with windows and a comfy bed and crackling fire. She collapsed onto the bed, her body shaking with sobs. She had run away again. She had lost her chance. He definitely wouldn't want to be her friend now, much less her boyfriend.

A few minutes later, she heard the door open. Hoping desperately that it wasn't Harry, she stood up and turned around.

"Bloody hell," she muttered as she stood up; her head was pounding from all the crying.

It wasn't Harry, it was Bill! She stared at him in surprise, tears still pouring down her face.

"Hey, Ginny," he said softly. "Mum sent me to find you. She said you were probably here."

Ginny sat down on the floor, leaned against the bed, and held her head in her hands. Her body was wracked with sobs, and she didn't know where it was all coming from.

Bill watched in awe as his youngest sibling collapsed in front of him. The only other time he'd ever seen her cry was when the twins had left for Hogwarts. He had no clue what to do. Fleur never cried, so he had never had to deal with girls crying. It made him sad to think about it. He knew that, had he been here, Fred would have been able to comfort her. He shook himself mentally. 'Not thinking about that, remember? Get a grip on yourself. She's your sister and needs comfort. What did Mum say, when Percy was born about comforting siblings? Oh, yeah, hug them and rock them and let them cry on you.'

He walked over to Ginny and sat down next to her. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, murmuring soothing words to her.

Ginny flinched when she felt arms around her, but then realized that they were Bill's. She let him pull her towards him, and tried to stop crying. Eventually, she calmed down enough to look up at him. He smiled slightly at her, and she returned it.

"Better now?" he asked, letting her sit up.

"A bit," she sniffed. "Bill?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think that Harry will want me anymore?"

To her surprise, Bill burst out laughing.

"What?" she asked, confused and a little hurt.

"Harry asked me the exact same thing yesterday, after you'd left," he replied, still smiling.

"And what did you say?"

"I said that you just needed to cool down a bit, and that you had every right to do that, and you hadn't meant anything that you said."

"How do you always know what I'm thinking?" Ginny asked, laughing. "You always say exactly what I think about something when I ask you about it!"

"Do I? Well, that would have something to do with being amazingly smart, and being able to see right through you, Ginikins," he laughed, using her old, and annoying, nickname that Ron had made up in retaliation for getting called 'Ronniekins'.

Ginny smiled. She loved it when she could talk with Bill, when he was carefree. He was always so much fun.

"But, on a more serious note, you really should talk to Harry now. He came back into the Great Hall looking pretty depressed. I can stay with you, if you want," he added.

"Yeah, I'd like that," Ginny replied.

They walked downstairs together, Bill with his arm around Ginny's shoulder's, and back into the Great Hall. Harry seemed to have been watching for them, because when they walked in, he stood up, looking hopeful.

Bill squeezed Ginny's shoulder, and guided her over to Harry. Ginny took a deep breath and said, talking to Harry's left elbow, "I'm really sorry for running away again, and I'll understand if you don't want to know me anymore. It would be a reasonable thing to do. I love you, but if you don't love me anymore, then I understand that too. Just know that if there's anything I can do to get you back, I'll do it."

While she had been talking, the hall had gone completely silent. Everyone was now looking at Harry. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ron and Hermione exchange worried looks. She looked back at Harry, and was surprised to see that he was right in front of her. Bill let her go and stepped back.

"I completely forgive you, Ginny, and I love you too."

She looked up, startled, and smiled uncertainly. He smiled back, and then suddenly dove in. His soft lips crashed down on hers, and he kissed her, hard and passionately, until they both ran out of oxygen. He pulled away to catch his breath before diving in again. Ginny forgot that the whole hall was watching. She forgot that family members surrounded her, she forgot everything. Her mind was in ecstasy as she put her hand on Harry's neck, pulling him closer. Finally, they broke apart, and Ginny pulled harry into a warm hug, tears in her eyes. Except that, for the first time in weeks, these were happy tears. She was so happy, she felt she could do anything. She closed her eyes, holding onto Harry as though he were her life saver, which, in her mind, he was.

A/N: Thanks for reading this! I'm not sure how many chapters I'm going to do, but there will be more! Toodles!

FredGinnyBillWeasley